The ability to deposit metal onto a substrate in a controlled fashion is desirable for many applications. In particular, the area of solid state circuitry has many ways in which it could utilize new and innovative deposition processes. As the dimensions of devices on integrated circuit wafers continue to shrink, while the overall size and complexity of the wafers increase, there is a growing need to be able to repair or alter an individual wafer in a time efficient, economic, and reliable manner.
The present invention is directed to an improved method for depositing micron-sized for example, 5-20 .mu.m widths, metal lines on an arbitrary dielectric material which, while providing good nucleation for the deposited metal, does not require additional patterning process steps. In particular, the process is directed to placing metal lines on an underlying polyimide surface in which the deposition does not damage the substrate. The method employs a visible wave length laser which is easily focused, very stable, has high resolution, and operates at power levels which do not harm the underlying substrate. The laser induced chemical vapor deposition process of the present invention exploits the strong, non-linear temperature dependence of the chemical deposition rate for the decomposition of a metal-bearing compound into a solid metallic film.